Automation is the method of increasing efficiency by the use of predefined tasks that are put in a sequence and followed. PowerShell is a task-based command-line shell and scripting language that’s built into Windows and other Microsoft platforms.
This article holds 5 Useful Powershell Tips And Tricks You Should Know. Let us see it one by one.
What is Powershell?
1. Powershell is a task-based command-line shell and scripting language designed especially for system administration. It provides a powerful set of tools for automating system tasks and configurations.
2. Powershell is built on top of the .NET framework, and it provides access to a wealth of .NET classes and methods. This makes it very powerful and flexible.
3. Powershell also has a rich set of cmdlets (command-line utilities) that can be used to automate many common system tasks.
4. Powershell is very user-friendly, and it has an interactive shell that makes it easy to use.
5. Powershell is available on all major operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and macOS.
Learn more from here –> PowerShell for Beginners
Different from Other Command-Line or Shell Software
1. Powershell is different from other command line or shell software because it is object-oriented. This means that you can manipulate objects in Powershell, rather than just text strings like in other software. This makes Powershell much more powerful and flexible.
2. Another difference is that Powershell uses what are called cmdlets, which are small programs that perform specific tasks. Cmdlets are very easy to use and allow you to do things like manage processes, files, and networks.
3. Powershell also has a built-in scripting language that you can use to automate tasks. The scripting language is based on the .NET Framework, so it is very powerful and easy to use.
Overall, Powershell is very different from other command line or shell software. It is object-oriented, uses cmdlets, and has a built-in scripting language. These features make Powershell much more powerful and flexible than other software.
What are the 5 Powershell tricks and tricks?
1. Use PowerShell to Get-Help
If you need help with a PowerShell cmdlet, you can use the Get-Help cmdlet. For example, if you want to know more about the Get-Process cmdlet, you can use the following command:
Get-Help Get-Process
This will display all the information about the cmdlet, including a description, syntax, and examples.
2. Use Aliases
PowerShell has a lot of cmdlets, and it can be difficult to remember them all. That’s where aliases come in handy. Aliases are alternate names for cmdlets that you can use.
For example, the Get-Process cmdlet can be aliased as gp. So, if you forget the name of the cmdlet, you can just use gp instead. To view all the aliases for a cmdlet, you can use the Get-Alias cmdlet.
3. Use Tab Completion
Tab completion is a feature in PowerShell that allows you to automatically complete commands and parameters. For example, if you want to use the Get-Process cmdlet, you can start typing “get-pro” and then press the Tab key.
4. Commenting lines, condensing two lines into one line by preceding the line with a hashmark
To comment out a line in PowerShell, simply precede it with a hash mark (#). This will tell PowerShell to ignore that particular line.
If you want to condense two lines of PowerShell code into one, you can do so by preceding the second line with a hashmark. This is useful if you want to save space or if you want to make your code more readable.
Here is an example of how this would look:
Line 1: Get-Process
Line 2: # Get-Service
This would execute the Get-Process cmdlet and ignore the Get-Service cmdlet.
5. Listing all files in the current directory and recursively through folders
One of the advantages of Powershell is its ability to run scripts securely on a system. By default, Powershell will not run any scripts unless they are signed by a trusted publisher.
This means that any script you download from the internet or receive from an untrusted source will not be able to run on your system unless you change the execution policy.
You can do this by opening Powershell and running the following command:
Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned
This will allow scripts that are signed by a trusted publisher to run on your system. Scripts that are not signed will still not be able to run.
If you want to be able to run all scripts, regardless of whether or not they are signed, you can set the execution policy to Unrestricted. However, this is not recommended as it can leave your system vulnerable to malicious scripts.
Useful Lists to execute in your computer
1. Get a list of all the files in a directory: dir
2. Get a list of all the processes running on your computer: Get-Process
3. Get a list of all the services running on your computer: Get-Service
4. Get a list of all the features and roles installed on your computer: Get-WindowsFeature
5. Get a list of all the users on your computer: net user
Conclusion
There are plenty of good places to learn PowerShell. Microsoft offers a few books on the subject, as well as some introductory tutorials. The Windows PowerShell Team Blog is also a great resource for learning PowerShell. In addition, there is our website PowershellGuru and many community-based resources, such as the PowerShell Forum on Reddit. Finally, don’t forget about YouTube – there are plenty of PowerShell videos out there to help you get started.